New GPU upgrade time....maybe?

S

soulesschild

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 18, 2007
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I'm running a 4870x2 and have been feeling that it's holding me back in some of the newer titles so I've been seriously considering a 6950 2GB since I game at 2560x1600 and I do like having full eye-candy...is it worth it now to get one and try the shader unlock? I'd most likely go for the XFX version for their warranty.

The other reason I've been waiting on upgrading is I'm a lazy bastard and don't want to re-do my waterloop as I have the 4870x2 on water :p:D Who wants a 4870x2 with WB for 150?!!?! :D
 
Wait for the 6990. Considering that you opted for such an expensive and high end card before (your 4870x2), then you may be able to afford the upcoming AMD 6990 too since you skipped the 5000 series cards.
 
lol I'm in the same boat. A watercooled 4870X2.... except I game at 1900x1200 so I want to side grade to something less expensive maybe. Not looking forward to changing my loop though.
 
Edi ... at 1920x1200 if you want to spend some money ... go GTX580 my friend. I went with that one, and i play at same resolution ... it's the best of the bunch at 1920x1200 ;)
 
I strongly disagree. There are much better things you can buy for $500 at 1920x1200, from both sides.
 
I was thinking something more along the lines of the 5870 but I can wait. I was thinking about just doing a whole new build. I don't feel like redoing my loop and I can probably get decent performance out of a <$1500 built. Sorry to OP for jacking the thread lol. I guess it is semi related.
 
I'm in a similar boat. I've got 2 mint ASUS 2GB Eyefinity 6 cards I need to get rid of. I am going to a S3D setup. I love ATI cards(amd) but I have the 3D virus. I am planning on getting the 27" ACER HN274H the day it is available. ATI has dropped the ball on keeping up with 3D, but I think they are waiting until it is in full swing before entering, however I want to do S3D now.
 
Gentlemen, use GPU only blocks :p. I just swapped my 5850->6950 and it was completely worth it at 2560x1600. The 6950, especially unlocked, is a great deal; it's just better balanced and offers smoother gameplay in addition to all the DX11 tweaks and 2GB of RAM. It won't be much faster than your 4870X2's (on average 30%-40% or so once overclocked), but it'll add a lot of fluidity to your experience.
 
I think you'll struggle to get 30% more than a 4870X2 out of a 6950. Only at 2560x1600 or eyefinity resolutions will you get it up to 20-25% from what I've seen.
 
samuelmorris said:
I think you'll struggle to get 30% more than a 4870X2 out of a 6950. Only at 2560x1600 or eyefinity resolutions will you get it up to 20-25% from what I've seen.
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See the benchmarks in my signature. A 6950 unlocked and overclocked was still 15-20% faster than my heavily overclocked 5850, which would blow away a 4870X2. Also note that my 6950 2GB when overclocked is about the same speed as a GTX 580. Here's a user review from a guy who went from 4870X2 Crossfire X (i.e. two 4870X2's) to a single GTX 580 and saw substantial improvement: http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1128724.
 
I very rarely see benchmarks where the 4870X2 doesn't beat the 5850. It even takes on the 5870 in a few tests.

My experience of it goes roughly like this:
HD4870: 100%
HD5850: 155%
HD5870: 180%
HD4870X2: 180%
HD6950: 185% at 1920x1200, 190% at 2560x1600+
HD6970: 200% at 1920x1200, 210% at 2560x1600+
GTX580: 230%


The HD4870X2 QuadCF to GTX580 is clearly a case of user error. I also went from 4870X2 QuadCF which performed very well, to two stock 6970s, and they perform considerably better in some cases, but about the same in most other titles (and not CPU limited ones, as I can turn AA down and the frame rate will substantially increase). The raw power of a GTX580 is only 15% more than that of one 4870X2. It's just a question of scaling. In pretty much everything I played, the gain from the second X2 was well more than 15%.
 
samuelmorris said:
I very rarely see benchmarks where the 4870X2 doesn't beat the 5850. It even takes on the 5870 in a few tests.

My experience of it goes roughly like this:
HD4870: 100%
HD5850: 155%
HD5870: 180%
HD4870X2: 180%
HD6950: 185% at 1920x1200, 190% at 2560x1600+
HD6970: 200% at 1920x1200, 210% at 2560x1600+
GTX580: 230%


The HD4870X2 QuadCF to GTX580 is clearly a case of user error. I also went from 4870X2 QuadCF which performed very well, to two stock 6970s, and they perform considerably better in some cases, but about the same in most other titles (and not CPU limited ones, as I can turn AA down and the frame rate will substantially increase). The raw power of a GTX580 is only 15% more than that of one 4870X2. It's just a question of scaling. In pretty much everything I played, the gain from the second X2 was well more than 15%.
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Your numbers are way off in my experience. The 5870 is more about 60-65% faster than the 4870 and about even with the 4870X2 (providing scaling is actually decent). Also, the GTX 580 on average is only about 10-15% faster than a 6970, not 30%. If your numbers were actually correct it'd only support my argument further, so I'm not sure where you were going with that.

Anyway, the main point that you missed is that we're considering the parts in full here, not just throwing around benchmark numbers. I've shown that an unlocked and overclocked 6950 will trade blows (and sometimes surpass) a stock GTX 580. This is something a 4870X2 could never do, despite being comparable to a stock 6950, because the 4870X2 couldn't overclock for jack. Also note that newer GPU's like the 6950 are better balanced for newer games and actually perform even faster in these newer titles.

Therefore, OP, a 6950 2GB at stock will give you comparable performance to your 4870X2 for the most part while taking the lead in newer games. You'll also have the added benefits of using much less power, being much quieter, having 2GB of vRAM, and support for the latest gaming tech (DX11, tessellation, etc.). Finally, if you want to overclock and unlock the card (both easy to do), you have the potential of adding ~25% more performance to the 6950, so you'll also get a decent performance bump with this upgrade.
 
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And this is versus a 4890, let alone a 4870.
 
HardOCP testing has shown that any video card above 1900x1200 benefits from 2GB of RAM and anything below that 1GB suffices. So.. 2GB is going to be a must for you, now I'd certainly wait on that 6990 since they are saying it's going to perform better than the 5970.
 
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